Moon, Mars & Bright Star Put on Skywatching Show This Week

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The moon, Mars and a bright star called Aldebaran are putting on
a great skywatching show this week.

All the action occurs in the predawn hours of Tuesday and
Wednesday (July 26 and 27), according to the editors of Stardate
magazine.

The moon will appear closest to Aldebaran — the bright star
known as the eye of Taurus (the bull) — an hour before dawn on
Tuesday in the eastern sky. At the same time on Wednesday
morning, the moon will shine next to Mars in the east.

Both Mars and
Aldebaran glow orange, but right now the star is about twice
as bright as Mars, StarDate's editors said.

Those orange splashes of color are rare in a nighttime sky
dominated by shades of white, black and gray. As a star,
Aldebaran produces its own glow. It shines orange because its
surface is thousands of degrees cooler than that of our own
yellow sun.

Other prominent reddish-orange stars include Antares (whose name
means "rival of Mars"), which shines brightest on July and August
evenings, and Betelgeuse, which is found in the constellation
Orion and lights up the winter sky, according to StarDate.

In contrast to stars, Mars doesn’t generate any light on its own.
Instead, it shines by reflecting sunlight, just like the moon.

The light strikes a surface boasting various shades of orange,
yellow, gray and black. Most of Mars' oranges and yellows are
produced by fine-grained dust that contains a lot of iron oxide,
better known as rust. [ Video:
Fly Over Gale Crater on Mars ]

As Mars grows brighter later in the year, its color will appear
to grow more intense, according to StarDate. By the end of the
year, the alien world will really be earning its "Red Planet"
moniker, providing one of the most vivid splashes of color in the
night sky.

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